Seasoned beer drinkers might have a frosty reception to the hail ale trend — but open-minded imbibers are cool with iced brews.
Gen Z has seemingly cornered the market on oddball food trends, from dry yogurt to ketchup-slathered Kit-Kat bars. Now, culinarily quirky zoomers are dividing social media users with another gastronomic taboo — putting ice in beer to create an extra “cold one.”
A quick TikTok search pulls up dozens of videos of epicurean experimenters serving everything from Michelob Ultra to Modelo on the rocks.
“This is the most refreshing way to drink a beer,” TikTokker @IsabelaEats gushed in the caption to one of the viral “cold brew” tutorials.
In it, the foodfluencer tosses a few cubes in a chelada, a Mexican cocktail of lager and lime juice that’s served in a glass with a salt-ringed rim.
In fact, LG Electronics surveyed 2,000 Brits on their drinking habits, finding that nearly one in three aged 18 to 35 copped to putting their pints on ice, the Daily Mail reported.
Meanwhile, 20% of respondents under 35 said they found the idea of adding ice to beer and wine “refreshing.”
The so-called Epicurean ice age received the cold shoulder from many brew buffs, while others defended the practice — noting that it’s not an uncommon cocktail in warmer climates, such as Costa Rica and Vietnam, according to some TikTok users.
“No ice please,” said one naysayer under the aforementioned iced chelada video, while another wrote, “Put glass in freezer, then you don’t need ice.”
“Please don’t put ice in the beers,” pleaded another hop-head under a video about a waitress who served a man the so-called hail ale at a golf club.
Others claimed that the practice diluted the suds. “It’s stupid the ice melts so quick and ur just drinking water,” exclaimed one critic under a video of a Zoomer enjoying a glaciated libation in Thailand.
Coincidentally, despite the popularity, many still frown upon the practice, which is considered tab-brew in most beer-consuming meccas from Germany to the US.
The same survey found that 44% of respondents labeled people who frost their lager “uneducated” philistines.
These unnatural ices are so stigmatized that one in 10 respondents said they avoid asking for ice in their wine or beer over fears of being judged.
Meanwhile, 22% lie to friends about their cube-lar cutting agent while secretly spiking their ale and wine with ice.
Nonetheless, many gourmets defended the practice. Practitioners on TikTok pointed out that icing a beer was the modus operandi in Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations due to their hot and humid climates.
Even Michelin-starred NYC chef David Chang endorsed the unconventional ingredient in both beer and wine.
In a 2023 episode of his eponymous podcast, the Momofuku maverick called iced booze “delicious” and said the only reason we refrain is due to “culinary snobbery.”
“Drink it as a beverage, not as a cultural artifact,” the chef declared.
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